Falling Out of Darkness
by Joe Fenton
Summary: Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, didn't. Now it is all out war. With the Order of the Phoenix all but defeated, the British government calls for help in this conflict of no longer secret magic users. Warning - very dark, and very violent.
1. Chapter 1: Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, didn't. Now it is all-out war. With the Order of the Phoenix all but defeated, the British government calls for help in this conflict of no-longer-secret magic users. Warning - very dark, and _very_ violent.

* * *

Falling Out of Darkness  
by Joe Fenton

Chapter 1: Blood, Sweat, and Tears  


* * *

'_Two minutes to target, Colonel._'__

The voice on the headphones was strained, and Colonel Patterson didn't blame the pilot one bit. Flying into the middle of a Death Eaters attack was tantamount to committing suicide. Death Eaters - a year ago the Colonel would have laughed at the notion that magic was real. By the time the British 'Ministry of Magic' had decided to end the secrecy, the war against the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, was all but lost. He personally believed they only broke the secrecy because there was no one left with the power to enforce it.

He glanced over the passengers in the V-22 Osprey with him. It galled him that Britain had been forced to ask for help. If the stupid gits in the British magical community had come forward earlier, it might not have come to this. As it was, the wholesale slaughter of 'muggle' communities had been the shocking introduction of magic to the world at large. The Colonel had been to a town after a Death Eater attack. The shear brutality of the enemy shocked even him. Men, women, children - even infants - were subject to the kind of torture that gave one nightmares. The Colonel had been tempted to order his men to shoot the few that survived. Leaving them alive was not mercy from the enemy.

Conventional weapons were of no use against their magical foes. That had been a stunning revelation. The first time his men had gone up against the Death Eaters, the soldiers had unleashed every weapon in their arsenal, enraged at the atrocities they had witnessed, and itching to deal some vengeance upon the murderers. Unfortunately, bullets encountered impenetrable magic shields, grenades failed to explode, and flame throwers found their fire under the control of the magic users, dealing death to his own men. The one time nuclear weapons had been authorized, the bomb had blinked out of existence where it was dropped, reappearing over London.

That had been the final blow. The British couldn't fight this on their own any longer and had appealed for help. When it seemed that the rest of Europe had written off the British Isles and were more interested in building up their own defenses, the Italians had given British High Command a program that they had been in the process of shutting down. That and the help of a few wizards and witches who had been too old to fight were all the Colonel had. They were now just seconds from the ruins of the once prestigious wizard's school, Hogwarts, where the few remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix were making a last stand against Voldemort's forces.

* * *

Sirius was in desperate straights. He'd been fighting for days. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept, and he had taken his last phial of pepper-upper many hours ago. He was separated from the others and pinned down by Death Eaters in a dungeon classroom. Sirius found it not without a dark kind of humor that he was most likely going to die in Snape's potions classroom. He mentally prepared a spell - if he was going down, he was going to take as many of them with him as possible. He never got the chance.

Appearing at the shattered remnants of the door to the room was a young girl, no more than ten or eleven. With short brown hair and dressed in a skirt and blouse, she appeared as nothing more than an average muggle girl. But where an average girl would have been running, this girl strolled into the room in a manner suggesting anything but fear.

One of the Death Eaters nudged the other. "Hey, it's some kid."

"Get rid of her. We've got more important things to deal with here."

The first Death Eater quickly moved to the center of the room to intercept the girl. "Avad-"

The girl darted forward with unexpected speed. A kick shattered the cloaked man's knee, cutting off the spell. Before he could even let out a scream from the injury, her hand stabbed forward, crushing his windpipe. The Death Eater fell over, unable to draw breath.

The Death Eater's partner turned to confront the threat. "Sectumsempra!"

The girl slipped a foot under the dying man, then flipped him with almost casual ease into the path of the spell. Blood sprayed as the spell ripped through his body. During this time, the girl drew the P90 submachine gun strapped to her back. As the body fell, the girl opened fire. A stream of bullets tore through the Death Eater, and more blood sprayed as pieces were torn from his body.

"_Missilis incendio_!"

The girl dove to the side as missiles of fire burst around her. She was unable to completely evade the attack, taking a hit in the right arm and two in her right leg. She rolled onto her feet, staying in a crouched position as she laid down a suppressing fire with the machine gun.

The third Death Eater cast a shield impervious to bullets, then moved to a better position to throw his next attack. It therefore came as a complete shock when the next burst of gunfire torn off his wand arm and ripped open his abdomen. He fell on his back, his mask coming free as he struck the floor. Blood formed an increasing larger pool around his body. He gasped as the girl stood and approached, unmindful of her own injuries.

"_I - it - it's - no-t possible... it's not - possible..._"

The girl held the P90 pointed at the ceiling as she drew a nine millimeter SIG Sauer pistol from the holster strapped to the small of her back. She stopped before the Death Eater, and in accented English spoke for the first time.

"Magic bullets."

She squeezed the trigger, the round tearing off the top of the Death Eater's head.

* * *

Sirius gradually became aware of his surroundings. He was lying in a hospital bed.

"Ah, you're awake."

He glanced to the side where a well dressed man with dark hair sat by his bedside, then pushed himself upright. "How long was I out?"

"Four days." The man stood. "The witch who treated you fussed about idiots who push themselves, taking potions when they should be resting."

Sirius snorted. "Like there was any chance of that."

The man nodded. "I understand completely, Mr. Black."

Sirius was hesitant. "How - how many made it out?"

"Eleven. Two died on the way here." He gave Sirius a little time to absorb the information. "Get dressed. There's still work to be done if you wish to save your country." He left the room as Sirius struggled to contain his emotions.

Sirius dressed and exited the room. The dark haired man was speaking with the girl who'd rescued him. They were speaking softly in Italian, leaving Sirius with no clue as to the conversation. They broke off as he approached.

"Who are you?" Sirius wasn't referring to just the pair either.

"I'm Giuseppe. This is Henrietta, my partner. We came here under orders from the Italian government at the behest of the British military."

"If it's not too much of an offense, what the hell is she?" Sirius was in no mood for pleasantries.

"Straight to the point - that's good. She's a cyborg, and this will bear more on your situation than you are currently aware." He led the way down the hall, the girl keeping a watch from a few steps behind. "A fratello consists of a handler and his cyborg partner." He nodded at Henrietta. "The fratellos we brought over from Italy are - how would you say it - a one-trick pony. Lord Voldemort will eventually adjust to this new opposition." He frowned as he strolled down the hospital corridor. "The problem is we need to take the fight to him instead of just waiting for his Death Eaters to attack. Unfortunately, all the Death Eaters' strongholds have wards that prevent non-magical beings from approaching." He stopped at window looking into one of the ICU's.

Sirius looked, then wished he hadn't. Like most hospitals, this one was packed with victims of the Death Eater attacks. Close by the window, a girl about the same apparent age as Henrietta sat in a wheel chair. Bandages covered the stumps of both arms and legs. Her eyes were dead, unseeing as she stared at the glass.

Giuseppe nodded. "She would kill herself if she could. As it is, she doesn't speak and refuses to eat. They have her on an intravenous drip to keep her alive."

Sirius refused to ask. He was familiar with such victims.

Giuseppe continued. "Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters have a particular hatred of magic users not of _pure blood_. This poor girl had the misfortune of being a magic user with non-magical parents." He glanced over at Sirius. "You people call them _mudbloods_."

Sirius grabbed his collar. "_Don't call them_ **my** _people_!" His arm was abruptly torn from Giuseppe and forced behind his back. His feet were knocked out from under him as he was slammed to the floor. He struggled, but couldn't break the grip on his arm.

"That's enough, Henrietta."

Sirius forced himself upright as the girl let go and took a step back. He glared at her, then at her partner. "I'm fighting against the people who think that way. I've lost a lot of good friends - and family..."

Giuseppe nodded. "You wouldn't be here if I thought otherwise."

Sirius took a deep breath, getting himself back under control. "Then why _are_ we here?"

Giuseppe nodded at the window. "Her." He noticed Sirius' puzzled expression. "The Death Eaters came for her a week ago. It's important you understand what she's been through. They spent the day alternating between forcing her parents to watch her being raped, and forcing her to watch her parents being tortured." He ignored Sirius' horrified expression. "When they finally tired of their _game_, they cast a spell to keep her conscious and slowly burned off her arms and legs, then executed the parents. She was one of the few we've managed to keep alive."

Sirius shook his head. "Why? Why didn't you just let her die? What is there for her now?"

"You... possibly. We need magic users to go up against Lord Voldemort. We brought over our doctors as well as the existing fratellos. They've been working with the few wizards and witches that remain who aren't allied with the enemy. The - medicine - used to condition the girls affects their memory and shortens their lifespan. We've been able to make improvements thanks to the potions and charms we now have access to. I just wish we'd had access to magic years ago."

Sirius looked even more horrified. "You're monsters! How can you do that to _children_! Why are you doing this?"

Giuseppe was unaffected by the man's outrage. "The drugs and replacement parts don't work well on adults. Yes, we're monsters, and hell awaits us in the end, but before then, we have a job to do. These girls have nothing to live for. We give them a new life, free from the _burdens_ of their former life. In return, we get a weapon in our arsenal against... whomever."

"What if I refuse to be a part of this?" Sirius spoke in a harsh voice.

"We'll find something else for you to do." He noticed Sirius' misgivings. "How a cyborg is treated is up to her handler. Some tend to treat the girls merely as tools - just another weapon to be used. I don't think that way personally. Henrietta means more than that to me, and I treat her appropriately."

The girl blushed and looked away.

Sirius noticed and addressed her for the first time. "What do you feel about all this? What do you think about being used this way?"

Henrietta looked him in the eyes. "I'm happy now. I may feel like I _have_ to follow orders from the agency, but I want to anyway. I wish to please Giuseppe."

Sirius stared at the girl for a moment, then back into the ICU. "So what do I do?"

Giuseppe started to walk away, Henrietta following.

"You teach her to do magic. We'll teach her to kill."

_End Chapter 1_

* * *

Author's Notes: Did I mention this was very dark, and _very_ violent? Well, it doesn't get any better. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon - probably no more than a week. While the wiki for Gunslinger Girl spells the name "Guiseppe," every other source including ADV, who is producing the English translation of the manga, spells his name "Giuseppe."

* * *

Harry Potter is the property of Warner Brothers and J. K. Rowling.  
Gunslinger Girl is the property of Yu Aida, Gekkan Comic, and Fuji Television Network, Inc..  



	2. Chapter 2: Dressed to Kill

Harry Potter is the property of Warner Brothers and J. K. Rowling.  
Gunslinger Girl is the property of Yu Aida, Gekkan Comic, and Fuji Television Network, Inc..

* * *

Falling Out of Darkness  
by Joe Fenton

Chapter 2: Dressed to Kill

* * *

The sudden silence at the firing range caused Henrietta to look up from where she was showing Hermione how to reload her weapon.

Triela gave a small cry of exasperation as her assault rifle quit firing. "Stupid piece of junk. I don't know why I can't use my Winchester." She started banging the SA80 carbine against a bench.

Rico looked up from the scope of her sniper rifle. "I don't think that's the recommended procedure for clearing a jam."

Triela smiled grimly. "No, but if I break it maybe they'll let me go back to my shotgun."

Hermione twisted her wrist slightly causing her wand to spring into her hand. "_Arma reparo_."

Triela glanced over the now-functioning weapon. "How _do_ you do that?"

Hermione didn't bat an eye. "It's magic."

Triela grimaced and looked over at Rico. "And you said she had no sense of humor."

Rico and Henrietta laughed as Hermione glared at the older girl.

Rico thought about it a moment. "Why do you use Latin for your spells?"

Hermione twisted her wrist again, and the wand disappeared up the sleeve of her blouse. "You don't want to use a commonly spoken language. You risk casting magic by accident."

Triela waved the assault rifle like a wand. "Gives a whole new meaning to _that party was a real blast_."

Henrietta giggled as Rico turned her attention back to the target.

"So what's so funny?"

Henrietta went silent and blushed slightly as Giuseppe appeared with the new handler, Sirius.

Triela covered for her roommate. "Just girl-talk." She went back to firing at her target.

Sirius smiled at Hermione. "I'm glad you're getting along with the others. Are you about ready for our magic lesson?"

Hermione smiled and nodded. She followed Sirius off the range.

Triela paused to reload. "So when can I get my Winchester back?"

Giuseppe sighed, having heard that all too frequently. "They still haven't spelled any ammunition for your shotgun. Considering how few magic users we have available, don't count on being able to use it before all this is over."

Henrietta giggled again as her friend and roommate cursed her bad luck. She turned to her handler.

"Are we going out again?"

Giusepppe nodded. "We have a briefing scheduled for this evening." He addressed all the girls. "Be at the main building at 1700 hours."

* * *

'_Hermione is the only magical cyborg ready at this time, so she'll be point on this operation..._'

Lucius Malfoy growled as he paced the room. Two raids had just disappeared. No muggle bodies - no Death Eater bodies - nothing but some blood and damage to indicate anything had occurred. It was just the same as the assault on Hogwarts. Lucius was now glad he had missed that. Lord Voldemort had been furious, and had taken it out on Lucius. It had taken much pain and many spells before Voldemort had accepted that Lucius had nothing to do with the apparent failure to eliminate the last of the Order.

A couple Death Eaters scurried out of the way as Lucius passed scowling. He was interrupted as another Death Eater entered the room.

"Someone just passed by the wards."

Lucius turned to a scrying mirror. "If they passed the wards, they can't be a muggle." He concentrated on the intruder. The fog in the mirror cleared to show a young girl running up the main path to the house. She was clearly a witch, the dress having a long petticoat and frills on the high collar and the cuffs on the long sleeves. Her brown hair was pulled back in a pigtail. A closer inspection showed the girl to be in distress. Her dress was dirty and torn, a couple leaves and twigs were stuck in her hair, and the pigtail was slowly coming undone. Tears were running down her face, clearly contorted in fear.

"Stay out of sight. I'll speak with the girl." He moved to the front door of the manor just as the girl started pounding on the door.

Lucius opened the door and smiled at the girl. "Peace, child. What upsets you so?"

The girl was breathing hard. "Please, sir! I need help. I got separated from me mum and dad. Muggles were chasing me! I only managed to get away because they couldn't approach your house."

Lucius tried to make his smile seem comforting. "Well, you're all right now. Tell me, who are you? I can probably find your parents for you."

The girl gave him a look of gratitude and hope. "I'm Cassie Cobblepot - Cassandra, Sir. My parents are Carter and Cassiopeia." She clasped her hands together. "Do you really think you can find them?"

He gave her a look of confidence. "But of course." He looked thoughtful. "Are your parents magic users too?"

The girl nodded. "Oh, yes sir! The finest in all Britain!"

Lucius smiled widely, but it was slightly off. The girl didn't seem to notice.

"Come in! I shall have my son show you to a room so you can freshen up while I try to contact your parents." He steered her into the manor towards the stairway. He cast a summons for Draco.

As the blond-haired boy approached, Lucius made the introductions. "Cassie, this is my son Draco. Draco, this young girl is Cassandra Cobblepot. She'll be staying with us while I locate her parents." He gave the boy pointed look. "Show her to _a room_ - so she can clean herself up."

The boy smiled, but while the father had been able to make his smile seem sincere, the boy failed miserably. He offered his arm. "This way, please."

As they moved off, Lucius gestured to a Death Eater hiding in the shadows. "Go check beyond the wards for the muggles she mentioned. Kill anyone you find."

"What if I run across her parents?"

Lucius frowned. "I already told you - kill _anyone_ you find."

* * *

'_We know Malfoy has been holding pureblood and half-blood girls whose families tried to fight Voldemort. They place them under the Imperius Curse and sell them to Voldemort's followers as trophies. After gaining entrance to the manor, Hermione will most likely be taken to where they are. That's when the second phase begins..._'

The girl was looking around in wonder as they walked down the hall. "This house is _amazing_! Is there anyone else here?"

The boy smirked. "You'll meet them soon enough." He motioned to a door. "Here is your room." He started to pull his wand as the girl entered the room. He moved up behind here, his wand pointed at her back.

"_Imperio_!" Being point-blank range, he couldn't possibly miss, so it came as a complete surprise when he did.

At the first sound, the girl dropped in a split as the curse passed over her head. She swept a leg around, taking the boy's legs out from under him. His wand bounced away as he hit the floor hard. He was still trying to get his wind back as the girl flipped to her feet.

A twist of the wrist brought her own wand to hand. Draco's eyes widened.

"_Imperio_."

* * *

'_Once Hermione has determined the whereabouts of the girls, she'll set a spell beacon to allow Sirius to Apparate through the wards. Sirius will then take down the wards and secure the prisoners. When the wards drop, the girls will strike from the outside while Hermione strikes from the inside..._'

"_Expelliarmus_!" The Death Eater smirked as the girl's wand skittered across the floor. He was rather surprised that the girl was still standing, but covered it as he gloated. "So what are you going to do now, little girl?"

Hermione reached under her long skirt, pulling out an SA80 L85 IW. The Death Eater's eyes bugged out as she swung the barrel his way. Bullets ripped through the wall as he dove to the side. His hand was shaking as he pointed his wand toward the girl.

"_CRUCIO_!"

Unfortunately for him the girl was no longer there. He kept the wand pointed ahead as he looked around franticly.

"Up here."

The Death Eater looked up to see the girl hanging from the ceiling. He didn't even have time to scream as she pushed off, spinning around with a kick that snapped his neck.

She picked up her wand and put it away, preferring to use the assault rifle.

Downstairs, the whole front of the manor exploded as the girls made multiple entry points. Death Eaters found themselves torn apart under the concentrated fire they laid down.

Lucius ducked into a room off the side, cursing silently. He prepared to Apparate when he noticed the girl he'd allowed into the manor. She was struggling with a weapon that apparently refused to fire.

"Well, at least I can kill you before I leave." He raised his wand.

Hermione was a blur as she moved. Lucius fell dead at her feet.

Triela looked in the room, noting the rifle jammed through Lucius' eye and protruding out the back of his skull.

Hermione grimaced. "You're right. These SA80's suck."

Triela turned to Hirscher as he trailed behind her, pistol in hand. "And you said she had no sense of humor."

_End Chapter 2_

* * *

Author's Notes: The dates don't follow canon. All dates are adjusted forward to match Gunslinger Girl, so don't bug me about GLOCK 36's or SA80 carbines not being available in 1991. Hirscher is called Hillshire in the manga. He's Triela's handler. 


End file.
